Waiting for Love
by Szept
Summary: Angela always thought she had all the time in the world to find her soulmate.
1. Chapter 1

Angela doesn't remember much about her life with her parents. It's perfectly natural, she knows even in her teens, to not be able to recall those early childhood years. The fact most of the few memories she still has revolve around her soulmark are only more precious for it.

The day she got her Words stands out in her mind as particularly clear, more so than most memories she's made as recently as a day prior. She must've been five or six, the date never mattered, only what it brought into her life.

Clear as the day it happened on, Angela recalls running around a playground with some other kids, then suddenly, pain – alike burning.

The way home is a blur. It wasn't bad, but she was a child, and not a careless one at that, not used to hurting. Oh she knew it was going to, other kids told her so, but the girl always assumed their bragging to be just that, since her parents said it wasn't going to hurt too much. Liars. For what it's worth, it was for the best. After all, it wouldn't do to have their daughter fear her markday.

More strongly than all of that, however, she remembers what Mom and Dad told her when she got home. Their reassurance and warmth, the stories of their own soulmarks and how they met and fell in love. How the same would now happen to her and how wonderful it would be. The pain did not go away, not for hours more, but it helped to distract her from it, at least.

The marks became something of an obsession for young Angela. All of them. And her parents were only too happy to encourage the scholarly streak she developed while attempting to learn everything about soulmarks there was for a child to know, often helping her go over a book or an article she could not understand on her own. It was also the time little Angela began her English lessons. If the first words her soulmate would say to her were to be in that language, then Angela would make sure she could carry on with the conversation.

Then, one day, it was her Grandma who picked Angela up from the kindergarten. She never saw her parents again. There wasn't even a funeral, not that she knew what was happening at the time – the town had to be abandoned and that was that. Years later, she learned that all that could be done for the Omnics' victims once her old home was reclaimed, was to make a mass grave and a monument, as there was no way to recognize the bodies after so long without DNA tests, and those cost money neither the government nor the people could spare.

All that little Angela had left of her parents was Grandma's photo album, that and the steadily degrading memories of them, with those around her mark being the clearest of all.

It made it... less impossible to deal with their absence. She could almost pretend they were there when she woke up crying if she closed her eyes and rubbed at her Words – almost hear their voices, almost feel their embrace. Almost.

With time, the hurt in her heart was replaced by an ache. Time heals all wounds, or at least lets them scar over.

Her mark remained a source of comfort to Angela as she grew up, even if her fascination with soulmates gave way to more practical pursuits of her medical studies. She had time. Most of the other students, most of them much older than herself, still hadn't heard their Words. Truthfully, it'd be problematic had she found her soul's second half back then – the amount of work she had assigned, along with the early stages of her own research left her with only enough time to sleep. Of course, leading such a lifestyle didn't exactly leave her with many opportunities to even meet her soulmate – there were times when she did not as much as see a new face for months on end.

She probably made more acquaintances the day she first came to Overwatch Swiss HQ than during all her years at the campus. It would be a day to remember even without hearing her Words.

(-)

"And this, doctor Ziegler, will be your office." Commander Morrison states as he opens the door for the young woman to pass through.

She does so without a word. This is their last stop, and all has been said between them that they needed to say for today. The man even provided her with his personal phone number as a key asset should she need anything. It's a bit overwhelming, having one of the most powerful men in the world just a call away, so is being called key. Her. A seventeen year old surgery and scientist. She knows her own worth, and that of her research which Overwatch agreed to fund, but still. It's a lot to process.

At least her office seems entirely down-to-earth. A bit bigger than what she got used to in Zurich, but she supposes a UN complex, as opposed to a hospital, can afford to waste some space. That is not to say the room is big at all, but with the memory of her campus dormitories still fresh in her mind, this is more than satisfactory.

"It'll do nicely," She turns back to the man, only a step into the room himself. "Thank you, Commander."

"Of course. Now, the paperwork regarding your nanotech research and funding should all be here." He motions to the laptop lying on the desk. "There's a reason I'm showing this to you a week before you can do anything with it." Oh. "I want it all ready on Day One. Understood?"

"Yes, Commander Morrison." Bureaucracy is something she's well acquainted with. Dealing with it was what, in the end, pushed her to accept the organization's proposal. A week worth of paperwork to have her research funded and ready to begin experiments? It's too good a proposition to pass-up when the alternative would either be accepting an offer from someone less trustworthy than Overwatch, or wait years before the old farts in the committee approved her work. Years during which it could already be saving lives in its development stage.

It gives her a sort of vindictive pleasure that they will have no claim to her work when it finally goes into mass-use all across the world, as that is where Overwatch operates and where she wants her tech to be used.

Despite a few drawbacks, like her sponsor being a military organization, it's a very good deal she got – it'll kickstart her work in a way she couldn't otherwise hope for. Now, she just has to deliver on her promises of efficiently using the millions that are to be poured into her tech. Easy. She got where she is with just her grant.

"Now, unless you have any questions, I'll leave you to your-" he cuts off when something- someone barrels through the still-open door, said someone being a dark-skinned girl somewhere on the cusp on her teens, with a wide-brimmed hat in her hands.

Angela shoots her new boss a questioning look. Her own age is the lowest they go, and the area they're in is not exactly public access, as to some kid from a school trip wandering off away from the group.

"Jack!" the girl hisses, making Angela do do a double take. "Jack, hide me, quick! You don't want Jesse to get his hat back, do you?"

"I'd be glad to see the da- thing gone." He snorts, amusement and sudden understanding apparent in his voice. "Unfortunately for us, this isn't my office. You'll have to ask Miss Ziegler, here."

Angela shoots her soon-to-be superior a questioning look, to which he responds with a nod. Alright then, if he wants her to play along, she will-

" _Hello. Can I hide here, please?_ " The young woman's heart stutters and her stomach jumps into her throat, before a ball of lead weighs it back down at hearing her Words being spoken by a girl no older than twelve.

Her breath hitches, and it takes all of her self-control to act like the adult she is and not flee the room.

God, her soulmate is still a child. It's- she's always known she's the older one – she got her mark after birth, after all, but she never imagined she'd meet them before it became irrelevant.

"Doctor Ziegler?"

Yet here she is, perhaps young enough to still attend primary, and staring at Angela with those big brown eyes, expecting an answer that will bind their fates together for the rest of their lives. It's too early, she can't- she's not-

"Doctor Ziegler."

She quickly – intently - studies the girl's face, before taking in her whole body, and the relief is almost overwhelming when she doesn't find anything there shouldn't be in the girl's childish features. Angela braces herself against the desk, as her knees suddenly threaten to give out from beneath her. It- it's okay. It's not at all uncommon for an age gap to exist between soulmates, it's just a rare case indeed for them to meet while it still matters. She never even considered the possibility.

"Ziegler." Her eyes snap upwards, to the commander's concerned own. "You okay?"

The scientist nods, not daring to say a word not addressed to the child in the room, who she notes, now that she can think again, seems to have withdrawn into herself, as if ashamed or embarrassed, maybe both.

That, more than anything else, is finally enough for Angela's tongue to untie, and address the girl.

" _If you still want to, then of course_."

The change in the girl's face is instantaneous, somehow managing to cycle from shame through surprise, then wonder, elation, and finally mortification, all in the space of a second.

She bolts out of the door in the next.

"Fareeha!" Morrison calls after her, his expression, for a change, still stuck on shock. "Shit. You, wait here." He orders Angela (and there's no doubt in her mind that it is an order), before taking off after the girl, leaving the doctor alone in her brand new office.

For a moment, the blonde simply stands still, mind empty, before it becomes apparent to her that she should probably sit down. This... went exactly nothing like she imagined it would. Angela's dreams weren't anything much, either, as realistically, _hello, can I hide here, please_ are not the words of a knight in shining armour. However, that did not stop her from having fantasies.

None of those (thank God) included her soulmate being a child.

She ungracefully collapses into the chair, and hides her face in her hands.

What is she supposed to do? If – or rather when the girl... when Fareeha calms down, she'll probably want to meet her, fuck, she wants to properly meet her too but- how are they supposed to interact? She's five or six years older and at this stage of life it's like heaven and hell. Moreover, Angela is a busy person, she simply doesn't have time (especially right now) to deal with anything but her work, the commander himself said he wants it done by the next week. That's a week of what Fareeha might take as ignoring or pushing her away. On the other hand, if they do spend time together, they'd be running a risk of the girl developing to cater to Angela's lifestyle and- and avoiding that entail heavily involving the parents to make sure...

...Parents.

It's easy, all too easy for Angela to imagine the girl's parents reactions when they learn their daughter has found her soulmate. A soulmate five years older than their daughter.

Lord have mercy on her soul.


	2. Chapter 2

"Angela!"

The woman's heart skips a beat at the unexpected, if not unwelcome voice drawing her attention away from her notes. And there she is, her child of a soulmate, wearing a sunflower dress and a smile.

"Fareeha? What are you- I didn't know you were coming?" It's only been two weeks, two excruciatingly long weeks, but still. All three of them agreed that that Fareeha would visit on monthly basis, with Angela herself flying to Cairo for holidays alongside Ana.

"I wanted it to be a surprise, so, surprise!" She throws herself at Angela just as the doctor stands up, latching tightly onto her waist. In spite of her confusion, a grin spreads on the blonde's face the very same instant, she can never help it with her soulmate. Especially when she looks up at her like that, still plastered against her. "You like it?"

"I'm always glad to see you." The woman laughs. "I take it that Captain- you mother is here too?"

"Yeah, we just got off the jet. I think she's still talking to Jack." It... never ceases to weird her out to hear the commander's name like that.

"Let me guess, you ran here straight away?"

"Duh!" Duh indeed. Really, Angela can't say for certain she will fare any better when she finally visits Cairo. The video calls are a handy substitute, but they don't put her soul at ease quite like having Fareeha here, in her hands.

"How long will you be staying?" the woman asks, detaching the girl from her waist and motioning for her to take the only chair in the room, choosing to lean against her desk herself. She used to let the girl sit in her lap, back before her mother saw. The young woman can still feel the chills breaking out in her spine at the memory of the _look_ she was given then.

"Oh. Just for the weekend." The girl's eyes drop. "I've been trying to get Mom to move to Zurich, but she keeps saying no."

Good. Much as Angela would love to have her Soulmate close by, she and Ana share the opinion that it is better for Fareeha not to, at least for the time being. She's too malleable, too eager to please Angela to let them spend so much time together now. It's only the distance that keeps the both of them from spending all their free time together – something newly found soulmates are known for, case in point.

She wonders what the occasion is that the older Amari decided to take her daughter with her for the weekend.

"We can't have everything." She ruffles the girl's hair, earning another pout for it. "Not yet."

"Everyone keeps saying it. I just want to see you more often, that's not too much, is it?" Uh...

"M-maybe once you finish school? It's just two years now, no?"

"Maybe... Mom said she doesn't want me to switch schools in the middle..." Suddenly, her whole being lights up. "Hey! Just had an idea, I could just do online courses!" Fuck. Okay. Damage control.

"Those aren't as good as proper schools, you know? Especially the good ones, and you told me you want to join Overwatch when you're older. You'll have to stand out to do that, and good schooling is a solid first step in that direction." And perhaps, just perhaps it would help to steer her soulmate away from becoming a soldier. It's one of the few things she and Ana agree on neither would mind to influence, should it lead Fareeha away from battlefields, unlikely as that is with the girl's disposition. "Unless you changed your mind?"

"Of course not! I'll be Overwatch, like you!"

"Oh?" the doctor ventures, tone bordering between curious and teasing. "You mean you want to become a doctor?"

"I- uh. I mean, I want to join like you. Not work in a lab. N-not that what you're doing isn't cool! It's very cool!" The girl rushes to reassure Angela, with a look of mortification. "It's just..."

"Less cool than what your mother does?" While her research has the potential to save more lives than Ana ever could, Angela has to begrudgingly admit that the woman cuts a far more dashing figure in her uniform than she does in her lab coat.

"I just mean, I don't know if I could handle sitting in a lab all day. I wanna be out there, doing stuff." Angela suppresses a flinch at the memory of Fareeha boundless... enthusiasm in the face of finding her soulmate. Between the woman's own restlessness and the girl's ceaseless stream of questions, plans and daydreaming, she'd barely done any work at all, most of it late at night, after Ana carried her daughter away from Angela's office, where the girl proclaimed her new residence and fell asleep.

"I suppose it's... not for everybody." People can change, children even more so, but Angela can't remember herself ever approaching the levels of energetic that Fareeha exhibits at all times. She only ever exercised enough to keep herself healthy, her soulmate, on the other hand: "Hey, how did your match yesterday go?"

The girl scowls, turning her gaze away. "We lost. I fouled red halfway through and Nada gave five goals. They're blaming me for losing it."

 _If they were any good, they wouldn't have lost after swapping out just one player_ – Angela bites her tongue before saying. Hubris is not a quality to inspire in anyone.

"Don't let them get to you," she says instead. "They're just upset about losing, it'll pass."

"It's not just the match. They're dumb." The words give the doctor a pause. Just two weeks ago Fareeha was beyond excited to tell her about half the girls on her school's football team.

"What do you mean?"

"They don't want to pair with me, and keep staring and whispering when they think I'm not looking, and they only talk with me when I mess up in practice. And they locked me out of the locker room once, but Coach shouted at them and they didn't try again, but..." _What?_ She mentioned none of these things the last time around, and it doesn't seem like she's trying to hide it.

"How long has this been going?"

"The last two weeks." ...Oh.

"Have you told your mom?"

"About what? It's just some girls being stupid." And yet here she is, telling Angela instead, helpless anger marring her face.

"Come here." She kneels in front of the chair and pulls the girl into an embrace, feeling her uneven breath, and the faint beat pressing against her chest in too quick a fashion. Gently, the blonde starts to rub circles on her soulmate's back. "It's okay. They really are stupid if they'd push someone like you away." _Like her._ Just two weeks of knowing this girl, just two short days of being around her and already she's certain of her words. Only the blind wouldn't see Fareeha for who she is.

Slowly, the thumping fades as the Fareeha's heart slows down, and Angela has to marvel at how this girl has so simply and utterly accepted her into her heart - how she's found her way into hers. Truthfully, it's scary how much trust Fareeha puts in her, terrifying in all the ways she could fail it.

The woman closes her eyes, allowing herself for a moment the comfort of simply holding her soulmate in her arms.

"Feeling better?"

"Yhm." The girl murmurs into her shoulder, drawing a smile from the doctor. "Thanks."

"Anytime." Angela draws back, her grin, she can see, contagious. "Say, I was about to take a break before you came, how about we go get something sweet together?" she asks, offering her hand for the girl to take.


	3. Chapter 3

Although she came prepared (courtesy of Ana reminding her to dress lightly, she'd almost forgotten in her nervous excitement), Angela still feels smothered the moment she sets foot outside the airplane. Having lived in the Alps for most of her life, she's not quite used to the ambient heat pressing on her from every side, and especially not with the sun already setting.

Well. Just another thing to adjust to in her life. She intends to visit Cairo whenever possible. Maybe live here in the future, when Fareeha goes to university or, should she and Ana fail to discourage her soulmate, military academy. Overwatch has an outpost in the city, she could work here. She wants to work here. The pull is magnetic like only the whereabouts of her soulmate can be, and she often catches herself thinking about asking for a transfer.

She won't do it, of course. There's good reason for the distance. All the same, she can't help thinking about it far more often than sense should allow. Her entire network of colleagues and tech provided specifically for her research lie back in Zürich. She may be the brain of the project, but a brain without a body is a useless thing. Not to mention how arbitrarily deciding for everyone that either they adapt to her moving or abandon the project would be outrageous, unprofessional, and childish.

She still wants to. Ever so much.

It's a constant itch. That desire for closeness. Always it's there at the back of her mind, a reminder she's not whole on her own.

That's on most days. Today, she woke up with a leaden pit in her stomach, and could barely force herself to eat a light breakfast before going to work, which itself proved to be less than productive, what with her mind occupied with thoughts of meeting her soulmate. The flight itself has proved even worse. The anticipation made her sick from the terminal back in Switzerland all the way to this moment.

Perhaps taking the flight next morning would have been better. Perhaps it'd just mean she wouldn't have been able to sleep and make her outright sick. Ultimately, what mattered was that she didn't have to wait another day to see Fareeha, so she didn't.

Angela tugs her suitcase forward, eager to again see her child of a soulmate and do away with the void in her gut. She and Ana are supposed to be waiting for her to take her to their home. For the next two days, they're to act as her guides around the city, though what exactly that entails has, on Fareeha's insistence, remained a secret. Normally, Angela isn't one for surprises, one might call it a professional quirk, but the girl's unbound joy at preparing one more than makes up for that.

Life being what it is, they'll unfortunately only have two days before the young doctor's night-flight back to Zürich. Hopefully get some shut-eye, and then it's back to business until the next visit. It's all they could arrange to match Angela's few days off around All Saints' with Ana's leave, and already it feels like too little.

Her pace is just short of running as she makes her way to the arrivals, as if to make the most of what limited time she and her soulmate will have. Their separation might be for the best, but it certainly doesn't feel that way. Less and less with every day apart. It can be difficult to focus, and impossible to work in the evenings when they've scheduled time to talk. That, and it's all too easy to snap at people for the most inane nonsense she'd never have made an issue of before. Apparently it's a common enough problem among soulmates living long-distance that courses for it exist. Maybe she ought to look into those.

Come to think of it, maybe they need to figure out a different schedule after all. If this is how she feels… she'll need to speak to Ana about how Fareeha is handling this. She can't imagine the girl dealing with their arrangement much better.

But that's for later. All things come second when she spots the short frame of her soulmate, who for her part appears to not yet have seen Angela in turn. The doctor pauses, a smile stretching her lips, and all her anxiety melting away as she takes in the sight of _her_ , impatiently bouncing in her spot as she diligently scans the crowds.

She briefly contemplates circling around her - and, she belatedly notices, her mother - but quickly discards the idea in favour of not wasting another minute apart with Fareeha just a stone's throw away.

The girl notices her before her mother does. Angela only has a second to memorise the joyful expression that blooms on her face before the girl takes off to throw herself at the doctor, leaving a startled Ana behind.

Angela sets her suitcase down to brace for the missile-shaped girl. A sound choice - she still staggers when the girl all but tackles her into a fierce hug. Angela doesn't mind it at all. She doubts she will even when Fareeha grows enough to actually knock her over. The last lingering trace of lead evaporates in her chest, making way for the warmth and fondness radiating out from Fareeha's skin flush against her own.

She lets herself remain like this for a moment, until the girl pulls back to peer at her from under the misshelved bangs.

"I missed you," she says, her eyes filled with wonder and voice with confession Angela understands only too well. She missed her. She missed having Angela with her. She missed the warmth of her skin. The comfort of touch. The melody of her voice, undisturbed by the distance and signal frequencies. How strange to think none of it mattered before they met, and tasted what it was like to _know_.

"I missed you too." It's an obvious thing to say. It's as true as the science she works with. More importantly, Fareeha's face could well be the sun when she hears the words.

Angela mercilessly squashes down the sudden urge to reach out and squish the girl's cheeks. She looks away before she fails in her struggle, to find Ana giving her a pointed look. Right.

Against her every instinct and want, she pulls back from the embrace, only allowing herself the indulgence of holding the girl's hand.

"I think we should go to your mom. No use wasting time on an airport, right?"

"Yeah! Can we still go out today? We have so much to show you, I made a list!"

It's all Angela can do to smile, even as dread pools in the pit of her stomach as she finds herself unable to deny her soulmate. Dammit. Truth be told, she feels like shit, and would prefer to spend the rest of the day recovering from the effects her nerves have wrought her. And honestly? She'd be content with simply lazing around for her entire stay for as long as her soulmate was there. Seeing Cairo is just a bonus.

"If we have the time." _If Ana allows it._ She says at length. Fareeha has still not outgrown her bedtime, after all.

"Oh," A split second later, Angela finds herself being dragged towards the older woman by her ever-enthusiastic soulmate, with only enough time given to grab her luggage again. "Mom, Mom! Can we go out today? Can we?"

The woman exchanges a look with Angela, who for her part tries her best to look apologetic for not having dismissed the idea herself.

"Maybe we should let Angela unpack first, hmm?" Ana sidesteps the question.

"Yeah! Right. But then?"

"We'll see." The frown appearing on Fareeha's brow speaks loud and clear of what she thinks of the answer.

* * *

They ride to the Amari household via a cab. Makes sense. Ana could certainly afford a car, or three, but so could Angela, and she doesn't have one either. Having a car they won't be using for most of the year seems like a waste. Not that there's much of a difference nowadays, what with both the cabs and private vehicles driving themselves.

Even in the rapidly falling darkness, Angela recognises the street the moment they make the last turn. She's never had trouble memorising, it made her good at what she does. Even so, she's found that all the things related to her soulmate - like the photos she'd seen that were taken in front of her house - sear themselves into her memory alike with a hot iron. Small or big, important or inane, it doesn't matter. She remembers helping the girl out with homework a month ago just as readily as she does her venting her frustrations with her mother three days back.

It sometimes feels like the girl crashed into her life, elbowing and pushing and kicking and screaming to make space for herself. The evenings Angela once spent on her (admittedly few) hobbies now feel lacking if she doesn't exchange at least a few words with her soulmate. The hours in her office are laden with unease when she looks to the armchair Fareeha took to sleeping in, and finds her absent. Nights spent tossing and mornings longing for the reassurance of her eyes.

Angela wouldn't trade it for anything else.

She holds Fareeha back a bit when they hop off the cab, so that Ana may invite her in, instead of her just barging inside. It's only sensible to be polite to her future in-law. The woman already indulges them more than many mothers would.

Still, when it comes to sleeping arrangements…

"And here's the guestroom. I took the liberty and already made the bed earlier. You can leave your suitcase here."

Thinking back on it, she should've expected it, seeing as the woman already holds reservations about her daughter being overtly physical with Angela. All the same, them sharing a bed for her stay seemed like something so natural that the young woman hadn't even considered a different possibility. Neither, it seems, did Fareeha.

"I thought Angela would stay in my room?"

"I don't think your bed is big enough for the two of you. You wouldn't let her sleep on the ground, would you?' The soldier glances at Angela, nipping the coming _I wouldn't mind at all_ in the bud.

"Oh, let's move this one then!"

"And put it where? Your room is too small."

"Let's move mine then?"

"Fareeha."

No beds end up being moved, though when Angela wakes up from her lonely slumber the next morning, it is to the uniquely familiar warmth pressed against her stomach.


End file.
